Dimensions, Reflections, and Illusions
by OliveFire Ellipsia
Summary: AU. Shinichi wakes up with no memories, surrounded by a bunch of friendly (but strange) teenagers, and... there's a boy who looks just like him, yet they're not even remotely genetically related. And they're not the only ones? What's going on with these people? Saving the world, of course. No explicit pairings as of yet. *EXCRUCIATINGLY SLOW PROGRESS. See Author's Note for details*
1. Prologue

**A/N: *waves & chuckles nervously* Hello friends...**

 **Okay, let me explain myself. For anyone out there who was actually anticipating the next part of** _Eyes On Me_ __ **(if there _was_ anyone)... I'm so sorry! NOT because I'm abandoning it (*exaggerated horrified gasp*), but because it's going to be on semi-hiatus for quite a while. Again, not because I don't like it anymore or I lost my inspiration or anything— in fact, I've got the general storyline written out somewhere— but because I'm EXTREMELY busy with schoolwork and life in general and all of that stuff comes before my stories. Unfortunately.**

 **That said, I'm part pleased, part resigned to announce that I'm participating for the first time ever in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! *half-hearted cheers* It's a great thing in theory, but the month of November is already half over and I'm nowhere NEAR my word-count goal... *cries***

 **The "novel" I'm writing wasn't intended to be a fanfic, but, as I was writing, many of the characters ended up shaping themselves into DC personalities, so I decided to tweak some bits and insert names and post it, hopefully garnering some support along the way! Whether you liked it or not, please drop a quick review on your way out! I would greatly appreciate any feedback and/or encouragement...**

 **Warnings: OC, overall crappy plot and grammar**

 _Prologue_

Shards of glass glittered in the still night air— tiny crystalline shapes spinning lazily to the ground— but the only soul awake and active at that dark hour was in no position to appreciate the sight.

She withdrew her hood, shaking out her short, dark hair as she stepped into the stifling warmth of yet another unextraordinary suburban two-story house. Cursing softly as she verified the glowing numbers on the silver face of her wristwatch, she slipped quietly and confidently into the master bedroom, where a young woman with tousled hair lay sprawled across the center of the full-sized bed. A black permanent marker appeared in her hand as she reached for the sleeping resident's left arm. Swiftly uncapping the marker, she carefully drew line after line of intricate symbols and characters on the underside of the young woman's wrist and forearm. She mumbled incoherently around the plastic marker cap between her teeth as she worked, the fateful words inscribed into her memory flowing easily from her lips. Within a few minutes the young woman's arm was covered in thick, slightly slanted black markings, and the silent intruder exited the house, hood pulled back up and recapped marker stowed safely in her pocket.

Checking her watch once again, the slim, hooded figure frowned as she ran towards the next building. It had taken far too long to disable the city's power generators and electrical systems. Now the time limit was fast approaching— and (predictably) she hadn't reached nearly as many targets as she had hoped. She cursed once more as she tripped unthinkingly over a pothole in the street and pushed her feet faster. At this rate, she'd be starting at an even greater disadvantage, with fewer allies and a much harder fight than she'd anticipated.

But, she mused as she skidded to a stop in front of the next house, that would only strengthen her resolve to _**win**_.

Taking a deep breath, she flicked back her hood, stepped forward, and drove her elbow through the window.


	2. Chapter One

**A/N: I'm posting Chapter 1 today too, since I still feel pretty guilty... Also because the prologue is super short and sounds rather unrelated to the summary xD**

 **Enjoy, and again, please review! Much appreciated!**

 _Chapter One_

He awoke to a throbbing ache in his temple and bright lights that seared his eyes. He groaned as he winced his eyelids back shut— and regretted making the noise too, as his throat felt burnt-dry.

"Oi, Kaito, don't do that!" a sharp voice admonished from somewhere to his right. "Can't you see the poor boy's sick?"

"It worked, didn't it?" a cheerful voice above him shot back. "He's awake!"

The brightness receded and, slowly, he slid one eye open. A mischievous grin and a startlingly familiar face greeted him first, followed by a chorus of salutations and crowd of facial expressions ranging from welcoming to worried to indifferent.

"ʼS a pity they're th' similar type," drawled a dark-skinned teenager with a thick accent and a baseball cap angled backwards on his head. "I don' think th' world can handle anoth'a Kuroba."

There was a general murmur of agreement among the throng of teenagers surrounding his bed as they all looked at the grinning boy still hanging over him. A girl with flowing dark brown hair cleared her throat and stepped closer. "Don't mind them," she said, rolling her eyes at her friends' antics. "How are you feeling?"

"Sick," he croaked, immediately bursting into a coughing fit as the burning sensation in his throat spiked once again.

"Don't push yourself," the girl gently scolded as she placed a reassuring hand over his shoulder. "Your fever's gone down a bit, but you'll still need to rest quite a while if you want to get better soon." Reaching over to the nightstand, she picked up a glass of water and handed it to him, helping the invalid sit upright as she carefully wrapped his thin fingers around the glass. He mumbled his thanks as he brought the cool water to his thirsty lips.

"Why don't we introduce ourselves?" another girl suggested, and he nearly choked. The girl who had spoken looked almost identical to the brown-haired girl still standing between the nightstand and his bed, and for a second his still-sluggish brain had falsely informed him that they were, in fact, the same person.

Oblivious to the fever-ridden patient's momentary confusion, the girl continued, "I'll start. My name is Nakamori Aoko, and this idiot—" here she produced a mop from thin air and whacked the still-smiling boy on the head, "— is Kaito."

"Kuroba Kaito, genius, prankster, and magician extraordinaire," Kaito added, shooting Aoko a sour look as he rubbed the growing lump on his head. Quickly recovering his cheerfulness, however, Kaito swept into a showman's bow before straightening and presenting the convalescent with a blue rose that appeared in his hand. "At your service, good sir," he proclaimed grandly, beaming as his offering was hesitantly accepted.

The boy with the baseball cap playfully elbowed Kaito out of the way. "Name's Hattori Heiji," he announced, ignoring the disapproving glare from a girl standing beside him. "Pleased ta meet ya."

Still frowning at Heiji, the ponytailed girl with dark green eyes turned her attention to the bed's sickly occupant, her slightly accented voice introducing herself as Toyama Kazuha. A loud, bubbly, light-haired girl with pale blue-green eyes and a plain headband pushing back her shoulder-length locks declared herself "Suzuki Sonoko, ultimate queen of beauty and wisdom."

(Everyone else in the room rolled their eyes at that statement.)

The tall blond teenager leaning against the doorframe cleared his throat and revealed his name to be Hakuba Saguru, his voice polite and serious.

"He's a prick," Heiji interjected not-so-quietly, once again disregarding Kazuha's immediate reprimand.

"Please excuse the rude language of my _friend_ over there," Saguru said coolly, addressing the raven-haired spectator regarding them with bemusement. "He doesn't think very often before he speaks."

"Why ya little—" Heiji growled, but was swiftly cut off by Kazuha slapping her hand over his mouth. The yet-unnamed girl closest to the bed shook her head and smiled. "I'm afraid they're always like that," she apologized. "I'm Mouri Ran, by the way."

"And what's your name?" Kaito interrupted, eagerly leaning forward.

Lowering his now-empty glass, the center of attention looked around at the anticipatory expressions with chagrin. "I— don't remember."

There was a crestfallen silence, and he fidgeted awkwardly. Finally Kaito plucked the glass from the nameless boy's hands and replaced it on the nightstand. "Then we can give you one!" he exclaimed brightly. He put a finger on his chin, as if deep in thought.

"Oh, I know!" Lunging forward, Kaito threw his arms around the other boy. "I'll call you Shin-chan~!" he sang happily.

Everybody else sweatdropped. "Um, Kaito, don't you think 'Shin-chan' is a bit… overbearing?" Aoko reasoned.

"Nope!" came the sunny response.

"What about 'Shinichi'?" Ran suggested. "It has a nice ring to it."

"Sounds good to me," the boy in question replied, his voice somewhat muffled by Kaito's arm. "Kuroba-san, could you please, uh, get off me?"

"Aw, Shin-chan, just call me Kaito," Kaito mock-pouted as he pulled back.

"All right, that's enough commotion for today," Ran decided. "Sick people need to rest." She began ushering the other teens out of the room, but the newly-christened Shinichi stopped Kaito, catching his sleeve.

"Kaito-san— could you stay for a minute?" Shinichi requested. "There's… something I'd like to ask you."

Surprised, Kaito agreed, settling himself on the edge of the bed as Ran gently closed the door.

"Kaito-san," Shinichi began.

"Call me Kaito," the magician insisted, grinning.

Shinichi resisted the strong urge to sigh or roll his eyes (preferably both). "Fine, _Kaito_ ," he amended. Suddenly anxious, Shinichi twirled the stem of the blue rose between his fingers as he tried to figure out how to phrase his question. "Look, I- I know this might sound sort of strange, but— Kaito, you… you look really _familiar_." He sucked in a breath. "Do I— do I know you?" *****

After a startled pause— during which Shinichi held his breath with trepidation— Kaito smiled. "I don't know you personally—"

Shinichi's shoulders slumped.

"—but I will soon enough, and I _do_ know why you might find me so familiar."

Shinichi perked up.

Kaito flicked his fingers, producing a small handheld mirror in his palm. "Here," he prompted, thrusting it into Shinichi's hand. Shinichi slowly brought the mirror in front of his face.

And stared.

The face looking back at him should have been his own reflection, but all he could see was Kaito. At second glance, he noticed the differences— his own features were slightly sharper, his chin and jawline more angular, his hair considerably neater (more windswept than bedhead), and his eyes a deeper blue in contrast to Kaito's indigo-violet— but the general shape and appearance were exactly the same.

It was unnerving, to say the least.

"Weird, isn't it? The word 'reflection' can have two entirely different meanings; one being the identical replica of something, the other the complete opposite," Kaito spoke, his voice lilting and mysterious. "Most people use it to mean the first definition, but still."

Dazed, Shinichi shifted his gaze from the mirror to Kaito, entranced by the web spinning out from his thread of words. "People have Reflections, too, you know," Kaito continued. "Everyone has one somewhere. Someone who either looks and acts just like them, or is different in infinitely large and small ways." He started towards the door, smiling enigmatically as he tossed a parting comment over his shoulder. "It seems we're supposed to be alike, but… who knows?"

Shinichi blinked. He was quite overwhelmed by this foreign concept, his bewilderment accentuated by a ' _poof_ ' of smoke as the mirror vanished from his hand. Still, he couldn't help blurting out—

"One more question," Shinichi called. Kaito halted in front of the door, brow quirked in curiosity.

"Do you just happen to carry a mirror with you on a daily basis?"

Kaito laughed lightly, turning to face his Reflection. "Ever heard of the phrase 'smoke and mirrors?' Mirrors are a classic for magic tricks, since they're known for showing only what truly exists." He smirked, silently opening the door and transporting himself to the other side of it. His words were left to linger in empty air.

"Didn't you know?"

* * *

 **A/N: * I don't really have anything important to say about this, except... Did anyone else think Shinichi was going to confess his love to Kaito at this part?** _(raises hand)_ **It wasn't my intent, and so far I don't think this is going to be KaiShin, but that's what it sounded like to me when I reread it...**


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N: Argh, this week is turning out to be (unfortunately) super-busy for me... Plus I've got at least seven tests AND a concert crammed into two days next week... I'm really starting to think I won't be able to finish this story in time :(**

 **Thanks loads to ascella star for the wonderful (sole) review! I'm glad you found it interesting enough to be worthy of your time, haha... I know, many amazing authors write well-crafted KaiShin, and I don't think I could live up to that high standard ^^ (This story's mostly supposed to be about the action anyways)**

 **Short chapter today... Sorry about that :/ ( _Hopefully_ more coming soon!)**

 _Chapter Two_

"It really _is_ bizarre," Heiji commented. "Usually there's no middle ground, but… ya really are pretty diff'rent, th' two of ya."

"Like they're breaking all the laws of Reflection," Sonoko agreed. "I bet they're even the same height!"

Shinichi stared, blank-faced. "There are… laws?"

"Not exactly _laws_ per se, but there's sort of a set of rules about characteristics of Reflections," Aoko explained. "All other Reflection pairs seem to fit these guidelines pretty easily, but you two are something different."

Kaito remained silent. He thought their encounter had been just as strange as Shinichi had found it, but for totally different reasons. He himself had been skeptical about the validity of Reflections and the conditions that governed their relationship, but once he saw Shinichi's face he was convinced.

Yet... his friends were right; there were too many discrepancies between him and Shinichi to be written off as mere coincidence. Their common physical traits clearly showed that they were meant to be similar Reflections, but from what he'd seen so far, Shinichi's personality was nothing like his own. And, in all his time witnessing people truly realize the idea of Reflections, Kaito had never seen someone sense it so quickly. Typically it took weeks, months, even _years_ to figure out— even longer if it was the opposite type, and almost always after comparing one's outward appearance and mannerisms to another's— but somehow Shinichi had _felt_ it. Despite the ostensible confusion etched onto Shinichi's features, Kaito could tell that, somewhere deep in his subconscious, Shinichi already knew and accepted the rules of Reflections.

All this— from an apparent retrograde amnesiac who couldn't remember his own name, much less recognize his face in a mirror.

Brain still swirling with thoughts, Kaito watched absentmindedly as the others described what Reflections were and how they were supposed to be.

"Aoko-chan and I, for example," Ran elaborated, "are similar Reflections. We look alike, and—" they shared a secret glance, "— I'd say our temperaments are about the same."

"By 'temperaments' she means temper," Heiji muttered to Shinichi. "They're both _terrifyin'_ when they're mad."

"On th' other hand," Kazuha continued in a louder voice, "Heiji an' Hakuba-kun are opposites. They look very different an' have contrasting dispositions." Saguru turned away from his Reflection, nose upturned slightly, while Heiji scowled, "Stuck-up moron."

"They also have a mutual dislike of each other," Kazuha added, eyebrows twitching.

"Not all opposite Reflections hate each other, though," Aoko chimed in. "In fact, Kazuha-chan's Reflection is—"

The door swung open, leaving Aoko's sentence unfinished and drawing everyone's attention to the petite young woman standing in the doorway. Light-haired and gracefully built, the girl made her way to Shinichi's bedside with a touch of haughtiness. She placed the tray of steaming soup she was carrying on the table. "Enjoy it while you can," she said airily, avoiding all eye contact with practiced indifference.

She was already back at the door when Kazuha stopped her, an unreadable expression on her face. "Ai-chan." *****

Ai paused, a pale hand resting lightly on the doorknob. After a long moment, she stiffly added, "Don't burn your tongue; it would be a terrible way to thank me."

Puzzled, Shinichi made a vague noise of assent. Ai left, silence trailing in her wake.

Kazuha smiled to herself.

* * *

 **A/N: *Ai is physically Shiho in this fic so that she can match with the age group, but I made her shorter as a kind of tribute to her de-aged form. I'm still going to use her alias 'Haibara Ai' though, since I think that her personality as Shiho was probably quite different from that of the Ai we currently know and love, so it seems more fitting to call her by the corresponding name. Also, it's going to be a bit OOC for Ai, especially concerning her relationship to her Reflection, Kazuha, but I wanted to portray some of her cold nature from early-on in the series, along with the gradual warming of her character, and I feel like her special connection with Kazuha might be a nice way to do that. If that's not convincing enough for you... well, there's a reason it's AU. xD**


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N:** **The next update might take a week or two; I had five tests and a concert in the span of two days and I am POOPED. And of course there's finals week... *deep sighs***

 **More excuses, of course, but I promise it'll be out eventually! ;)**

 **In the meantime, once again, tons of thanks to ascella star, my dedicated reviewer :) Like I said, I'm glad you found it interesting... Haha, Reflections are just the tip of the iceberg! The first few chapters were like an intro to the characters and setting, the story will start to pick up from here! (Get hyped! ;D)**

 **Drop a review if you like it (or even if you don't), and as always, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Tʜʀᴇᴇ ***

Four days later, Shinichi found himself fever-free and adjusting surprisingly easily to his new environment. He was formally (re-)introduced to Haibara Ai, Kazuha's Reflection— who, despite her knife-edged glares and impersonal reticence, wore a softer look in her eyes, seeming to relax around him more as time passed.

He also met Momoi Keiko, a mellow, friendly girl with light brown pigtails, wire-rimmed glasses, and bright eyes several shades more golden-green than Sonoko's, who also turned out to be Sonoko's Reflection. Sonoko repeatedly insisted that the two of them used to be impossible to tell apart, and that they'd agreed to deliberately dress and act differently from each other in order to prevent confusion.

(Privately, Shinichi didn't believe her, but considering Sonoko's somewhat… _dramatic_ personality, he was reluctant to voice this thought.)

Everything seemed normal enough to Shinichi as he settled in, but all of that changed one day when Heiji and Kazuha got into a heated argument.

"Geez, woman, there's no need ta yell at me over a piece of bread!" Heiji griped, sticking a finger in his ear.

"It's your own fault fer stealin' food off of my plate! I was savin' that fer later!" Kazuha retorted.

"Ahou! It's not that big of a deal, just go ask fer anoth'a slice!" Heiji shot back. "It ain't that difficult, ya know!"

"You're th' ahou! Why should _I_ hafta get up an' ask fer more when _you're_ th' reason I don't have any left?" Kazuha shouted.

"Ahou!"

"AHOU!"

Shinichi stared in astonishment as wisps of bright green flame sparked and crackled through the air surrounding Heiji, while a humming, semi-transparent aura thickened around Kazuha. Neither of them seemed to notice or care, however, as they continued their bickering.

"Um," Shinichi cleared his throat uncertainly, attempting to point out the strange physical atmosphere between the two teenagers. It seemed important to note, since Heiji's flames were starting to grow bigger and louder by the second. "Hey, there's, uh—"

He stopped short, perplexed by the sudden materialization of thin ice walls blocking off the dispute from the rest of the world. "W-What…" he stuttered as he caught sight of Ai sitting several feet away, shaking her head in exasperation at Heiji and Kazuha.

What really struck Shinichi as unusual, though, was the faint mist swirling from Ai's fingertips towards the layer of ice— _and_ the conspicuous fact that no one else in the dining hall/cafeteria seemed to be paying attention to the confounding spectacle in their midst, except for one tall guy with a buzz cut who remarked as he passed by, "At it again, huh?" Ai just rolled her eyes.

Shinichi was desperately pinching himself when Kaito slid over to him with a knowing, too-casual grin. "What's up?" he said nonchalantly, and Shinichi had just refocused his openmouthed shock on his companion when he was abruptly pulled to his feet by a vice-like grip on his wrist.

Looking up, Shinichi found himself face-to-face (well, almost— the newcomer was markedly shorter than he) with a grim-faced, dark-haired girl whose green-gray eyes all but screamed with urgency and a deadly sort of determination.

"Come with me," she commanded. Kaito, who had just opened his mouth to protest, clamped his jaw shut as she seized his arm and added, with a flash of her stormy gaze, "You too."

In the blink of an eye, they were standing at the door— which the girl kicked open with aggressive force— and then they were rushing down the hallway at a dizzying speed. The two boys were understandably dazed by the time Ran stepped into their path. "Who are you and where do you think you're going?" Ran demanded, glaring fiercely at the girl. Shinichi noted with growing bemusement that pale violet flames similar to Heiji's were flickering around her.

The girl critically scrutinized Ran— to the point where even Kaito was beginning to feel uncomfortable— before finally snapping, "Tag along, if you really want to know. Just _don't_ get in the way."

She impatiently brushed past Ran, who dutifully trailed after her, and resumed breezing through the halls with renewed vigor. At long last, the foursome arrived…

… at a dead end.

Before anyone could muster up the courage to question the strange girl, however, she flung open the last door, herded everyone into the room before her, and locked the door.

Shinichi squinted as his eyes adjusted to the bright fluorescent lights overhead, revealing the polished surfaces of—

"The bathroom?!" Ran exclaimed.

Sure enough, the tile-floored room was equipped with a toilet, sink, towel rack, and mirrored wall cabinet. It was also a bit small for four teenagers, as Shinichi soon discovered.

("Sorry," he apologized to Ran, whom he'd accidentally elbowed. She waved her hand dismissively, telling him not to worry about it.)

"So are you going to tell us what's going on?" Kaito pressed.

"First you should explain powers to the poor boy," the girl replied, nodding towards Shinichi. "Otherwise he won't believe anything I say."

Kaito and Ran turned to look at Shinichi, who smiled weakly at them as he recalled all of the strangeness of the day. "I can't believe you haven't told him about it yet," the girl commented dryly.

"It just sort of… slipped our minds, I guess," Kaito laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"So, can I get an explanation before I lose my mind completely?" Shinichi ventured.

"Powers are— well, exactly what they sound like," Ran obliged. "Like Reflections, everyone has one. They're element-based, and everyone has his or her own quirk in terms of abilities."

"Element-based? Quirks?" Shinichi echoed quizzically.

"Manipulation of natural elements— that is, fire, ice, or energy. Fire—" Shinichi let out a startled yelp as Ran held up her hand, displaying the tiny, pale violet flames dancing at her fingertips. "— is the most abundant, while ice and energy are typically less common." Curling her fingers, she extinguished the flames before lowering her hand.

"Quirks are basically just the individual idiosyncrasies of powers," Kaito piped up. "The color of the flames, for example— like you saw, Hattori's are green and Ran-chan's are violet."

"They can also be differences in skill set. Some fire-types can melt ice. Some ice-types can freeze liquids, solid objects, _and_ thin air; others are more comfortable with water." Ran put a hand to her chin in thought. "Come to think of it, I've never tried using ice-fire…"

"Energy is seriously the best!" Kaito interrupted enthusiastically. "There's _so_ many different kinds of energy, like Kazuha-chan's electrical energy, and Sonoko-chan's voltage energy, and Keiko-chan's light energy, and of course _life_ energy, which is the coolest thing _ever_ , and—"

"Let me guess," Shinichi interrupted sardonically. "You're an energy-type, right?"

"Nope!" Kaito grinned gleefully at his Reflection's stumped expression.

"It's a… 'work in progress,'" Ran explained, marking air quotes with her fingers. "Nobody really knows what his power is, and he himself—" she poked her thumb at Kaito, who was goofily juggling multicolored rubber balls, "— is too busy with magic tricks to care."

Sensing the explanation was drawing to a close, Kaito glanced over at the girl, who was somehow perched on edge of the sink. "Now what?" he inquired as his juggling balls disappeared one by one.

"Now for my spiel," she sighed wearily, and suddenly she seemed much older than a teenager.

"My name is Kagayake Ryuki," the girl began, fixing her audience of three with the intensity of her stare.

"I'm an immortal."

* * *

 **A/N: Sort-of a cliffhanger there (not too bad, I hope)...**

 **Originally I planned to end the chapter a bit later, in a more appropriate spot, but... meh. I got lazy, I guess.**

 *** Not too important, but I just wanted to point out the sheer awesomeness of small caps! I didn't know I could do that here! :O**


	5. STATUS UPDATE

**A/N:** *peers meekly around corner* Hello...?

(oh my god I'm such a hypocrite but) Unfortunately, this is not a chapter update... just an update on the status of this story.

Before you storm out on me in frustration and righteous anger (which I completely empathize with), let me deliver some good and bad news:

Good news: I have no plans to entirely abandon this story!

Bad news: I won't be updating for quite a while due to offline personal issues (AKA life in general). Plus, I lost all of my notes for this story, so right now I have no idea where the plot is heading. Hopefully I can figure it out and get back on track soon, but there's no telling when that'll be...

In the mean time, **thank you all so much** for the faves, follows, and reviews! To be honest, if it weren't for you guys I probably wouldn't be returning to this story. Please be patient and have mercy on this poor, undeserving author, since this effort is all for you!

 **TL;DR** Neither I nor this story is dead (yet). We are slowly crawling on our bellies towards the enlightening future.

* * *

***This note will be replaced with the next chapter once it is ready to be published.***


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